Manuka Oval is a 15,000 capacity stadium (10,000 seated) located in the suburb of Griffith, adjacent to Manuka, a business district of Canberra, Australia's capital. The stadium is home to many events thoughout the year, including Cricket matches in the summer months and Australian Rules Football matches in the winter months. The stadium is a home venue to the Kangaroos Football Club, a Melbourne based club in the Australian Football League who play three games at the ground each year.
Work began on Manuka Oval to erect a fence, level the ground and other improvements in 1929, the field had previously been used to casually play Rugby League and AFL football. The first cricket pitch was played on in April 1930. In 2004, Manuka Oval celebrated the 75th anniversary of it being formally established.
Manuka Oval is perhaps best known as the venue for the annual Prime Ministers’ XI cricket match against the international touring team of each season but has also been used for football since the early 1920’s, even before Federal Parliament transferred to Canberra in 1927.
One of the features of the ground is the Jack Fingleton Scoreboard (see image right). This was originally the scoreboard at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, recycled when the MCG installed its first electronic board in the early 1980's. It was relocated to Manuka and named after the late Australian opening batsman who made his career as a political journalist in the corridors of Parliament House, just a few kilometres away.
The latest $9 million upgrade further ensures the ground's status as the permanent home for both Cricket and Australian Football in Canberra. Features of this redevelopment included new tiered seating, extending the terraces at the northern and southern ends with individual stadium seating, Inner bowl of stadium seating in front of concrete terraces, Two new toilet blocks and refurbishment of remaining toilets, Construction of a viewing bank on the eastern side to accommodate corporate marquees or portable seating, and Minor landscape improvements.
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